CWRE: Electronics Recy. Plant Nears Start-Up

If David Mills and the Barrie Metals Group are able to execute their plans, a great deal of North American electronic scrap will soon begin working its way north to Barrie, Ontario, some 60 miles north of Toronto.

Mills presented an overview of the electronics recycling facility that has been set up by the Cable Recycling Inc. division of the Barrie Metals Group to attendees of a session at the Canadian Waste & Recycling Expo in Toronto in early December.

At the session, sponsored by the Canadian Association of Recycling Industries (CARI), Mills outlined the operations just starting to ramp up at the company’s 450,000 sq. ft. plant, located on 29 acres with a rail spur and access to Ontario’s busy Highway 400.

Material entering the Cable Recycling Inc. through its 20 loading docks will be assessed for its resale and refurbishment potential, or have select components harvested for resale before being recycled for its raw materials. (Mills noted that in some cases, entities sending material may prefer to have it head directly for the shredder for confidentiality and security purposes.)

Resalable equipment and components will be offered for sale at auctions and through Web sites such as E-Bay.

The company has specific equipment to handle monitor and television CRT units so that leaded glass is handled safely.

Shredding equipment, followed by mechanical, magnetic and centrifugal separating processes, will help produce clean secondary commodities including ferrous scrap metal, nonferrous metals and plastics.

The plant’s machinery can handle up to three tons per hour of electronic scrap, said Mills. Fees for obsolete equipment delivered to the site will be determined later based upon operating costs and returns on saleable commodities.

Mills said the Barrie, Ontario, plant will be the “largest facility of its kind in North America.” Full start-up of the plant is slated for early January 2005.